A Light in the Dark
by Raye of the Sunshine
Summary: "She was a light in the dark. Literally; she glowed like the sun, her light reaching far into the darkness around her." NaminéxVanitas. Set during KHII.


Hi everyone. So this is crazy but I've started to ship Naminé and Vanitas... Anyways this popped up. I have this belief that Naminé is made of light; since Vanitas is literally the darkness of Ventus's heart I figured he would be extremely attracted to it (but whether attracted to her or not remains to be seen...). Anyways, please enjoy and leave some of your thoughts!

Also ps Kingdom Hearts is not mine because if it were Xion would never have existed at all.

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She was a light in the dark. Literally; she glowed like the sun, her light reaching far into the darkness around her. Her smile was secretive but… calming. Everything about her made him curious. Why was she in the dark? Who was she? What was her name? Not that he really cared for names, but a girl like her had to have one.

He found her while wandering. Xehanort had lied to him, telling him the pain of his existence would be fixed if he forged the X-Blade. He, Vanitas, was mindlessly walking in the dark and cursing his Master with all of his negative feelings when he began to notice the world growing brighter. And then he spotted her.

She turned. Seeing him, she smiled. Smiled! What did she have to smile about, especially at him? Before he could say anything, she ran. Just took off.

Her light was leaving and suddenly Vanitas panicked. He hadn't touched light so pure since he and Ventus had temporarily joined together; he couldn't just let her go! "Wait!" he cried, not willing to admit it sounded desperate to his own ears. "Don't go."

She led him on a chase, somehow always ahead of him. He didn't know how long they ran, but somehow she led them out of the darkness and then they were in a white space. A tapestry hung on one wall, pristine and not a thread out of place. Paper floated in the air, pictures drawn on them. Vanitas tugged on one to pull it down, but it did not leave its place; instead it rippled and suddenly he could see small images running through the scene drawn on the paper.

He looked away from the floating paper and searched for her instead. She had to be around here somewhere—after all, she had led him here. "Where are you?" he demanded, displeased. This place was saturated with her light so he could not find her just by looking for it.

A quiet voice answered him. "I'm over here." Vanitas whirled around to find that she was a foot behind him when she definitely hadn't been there before.

His tongue felt twisted in his mouth. "Who are you?" he asked, staring at her.

"My name is Naminé," she replied, tilting her head as she did so. "How did you find me?"

"I… I don't know." And he didn't. She'd just _appeared_ out of nowhere. "What are you then? A Princess of Heart?" Naminé almost had to be, with all the light she was spilling out.

She laughed but she looked like she wanted to cry. "No. I am like you."

Now it was his turn to laugh. "Don't be stupid. You're nothing like me. I'm a creature of darkness and you are not."

"That's not what I meant," she said serenely, taking his comments in stride. "I am merely stating that I am half of someone, like you."

He supposed that made sense, except—"How did you know what I am?" Vanitas gave her a hard look. "I've never met you in my life."

Her lips curved into a secretive smile that strangely did not annoy him as much as he thought it would if someone else had done it. "You are connected to Sora. I found you a long time ago. I did not think you were still in the dark."

"Could you _be_ any less specific?" he asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Your name is Vanitas. You are half of Ventus. Sora helped fixed Ventus's heart; they are connected. It only stands to reason that you are also connected to Sora through Ventus."

He stared at her. "What are you?"

For some reason that made her lip tremble for a moment. "I am Naminé, a witch with the power over Sora's memories and those around him."

He stopped to look her over and take this in. Vanitas looked her up and down, even circled her a few times, before crossing his arms and shaking his head. "Whoever told you, you were a witch, was an idiot. No one with that much light is a witch."

"You don't know that," she contradicted softly. "But thank you."

He shrugged. Whether she believed it or not wasn't his problem. "What were you doing in the darkness?" Vanitas wasn't the only thing in the deep blackness they had been in before this space.

"Hiding," she said simply, moving away to a table he only just noticed.

Vanitas laughed again. "You should've hidden in the realm of light. You were shining like a beacon out there."

She looked at him and he was caught in her gaze. It unnerved him, entranced him; he didn't like the pull she had over his emotions and they had only just met. "I was hiding from those who wish to kill me, from both the light and the dark. They would not go that far into the darkness, where there is no sense of time or direction. So I did, until I am needed again." And in her hands there lay a sketchpad, which had not been there before. He found it very odd that things kept appearing without his noticing.

"There are things in that deep area of the darkness that could kill you," he said, not sure what to make of her at all. _Like me. I could kill you._

"If that's what you believe. So far I have only seen you, and look, we are no longer in the darkness."

He approached her, wondering briefly what she would feel like if he touched her. Would she be warm like the light she gave off? "Where are we anyways?"

"This is my personal space. I led you to my inner sanctum."

"That was a dumb idea, Naminé."

"You're the one that came," she said, not even looking at him. That bothered him. She was talking to him and she didn't think he was important enough to look at, did she?

"Look at me when you're talking to me!" he shouted at her, wanting a reaction from her.

Naminé did look up and again he was caught up in her gaze. She stared at him and through him and he wasn't sure what she was doing but he did not like it at all. It was as if she could see all his thoughts, as if she knew his deepest secrets. Carefully she set her sketchbook down and got up, stopping when she was close to him. "You hurt, don't you?" She didn't say it like a question at all.

"I don't know what you mean," he muttered, looking away from her face.

"No, I think you do. You were born hurting and you still hurt."

"What do you know?" he hissed, gritting his teeth as he looked back at her.

"I know enough."

"You know nothing," he growled, wanting to hit the stupidity out of her. "Nothing!"

"You didn't see me or feel me but I looked through your memories when I found you. I felt it. I felt everything you did and believe me, you still hurt." Her face became firm and he actually felt guilty for shouting at her.

_How the hell is she doing that? _he thought. It was like she knew exactly what to say or do to change his emotions. "What gave you the right to look through my memories? Aren't those my private thoughts?"

"I didn't have a right," she admitted honestly. "But I had to make sure you would not hurt Sora or what I had to do to fix his memories. Private or not, Sora is more important."

Her face looked so… sad. He didn't think that was the right word but it was the best he could come up with. Suddenly Vanitas felt very jealous of this Sora. "What did he do to deserve it?"

"He is the hero. He is the one who will save all the worlds, time and time again. Sora is more important than anyone… more important than me." Her last few words came out as a whisper, and she looked at the ground.

_Don't be sad._

"Why?" she asked, and he realized that he'd said it aloud.

He almost didn't want to answer, but her face, her eyes, compelled him. "Your light. It… it grows dim." Vanitas frowned, not liking that he couldn't explain it.

"Why do you care?"

"I don't know! Stop asking questions!" Almost immediately he felt guilty for yelling at her again. "Look… I don't know."

She blinked and nodded, but spoke again. "What would you do to change my being sad?"

Numerous ideas popped into his mind. She was so innocent, so pure… it wouldn't take much to take away the sadness _and_ the innocence. Normally he wouldn't have cared if she wanted to or not; usually he'd just take what he wanted and leave it at that. But not with this. Not with her. And Vanitas wasn't sure what made her so _different_. "I can think of a few things," he said at last. Naminé smiled again and he could feel her light brightening. Vanitas couldn't resist and reached forward, touching her shoulder.

Instead of her pushing him away like he had expected, she stepped forward and hugged him. Suddenly he was engulfed in light. He realized he was right; she _was_ warm. Vanitas put his arms around her, wanting to touch more of it. She made a noise and he noticed he had pulled her tight against his chest. Just as he was about to release her, Naminé tightened her grip around him, a sign that she refused to let him go.

He felt confused. No one had _ever_ held him. He had _never_ held anyone. This was his first time embracing someone and it felt good. Better than good. "Naminé…" he whispered; he stopped, unsure of what to say or where he was going. She smiled—he could feel it against his chest—and pressed further against him, if that was even possible. Strangely she didn't react negatively when his darkness slipped out and brushed against her.

Then she released him and stepped out of his grasp, leaving him feeling at a loss. He'd had light in his hands and now… it was two feet away from him. And he wondered what the light would _taste _like, what _she_ was like… Vanitas became filled with desire to find out, to know what she sounded like; but when she caught his eyes again, he managed to quell those thoughts.

"I'm not going to stay me," she said, the sadness coming back. Vanitas could feel her light retreating and dimming and instantly hated it. "I'm going to go back to where I belong: with Kairi."

"You… you can't," he protested almost childishly. "Why would you do that?"

"To be whole," she answered, placing her hands over her chest. "I want to be whole. And so do you, don't you?"

"Yeah… but I've been like this for too long. I don't think I can go back to Ventus." _I felt plenty whole while you were in my arms, _he thought, staring at her. Then his eyes narrowed. If _he_ had felt whole, then she must have as well. And the look in her eyes told him that he was right; she'd felt it too.

He stepped closer to her, his face close to hers. "There are other ways to feel whole, Naminé."

"To _feel_ whole, yes; but to _be_ whole? No." But he could see it; she reciprocated what he was thinking.

"Feel whole for a while, then. You don't have to go back, yet. Do you?" He had her back to the table, giving her room to escape if she wanted.

"No… not yet…"

"Please," he asked, surprising himself. He did not ask. He took. Naminé was certainly influencing his behavior and it perplexed him. But he wanted her light. And he _did_ know how to ask; he just didn't, usually.

"A… all right..." she murmured, looking up at him through her eyelashes. She was also blushing, and Vanitas decided he liked it.

He leaned closer and kissed her, pulling her back to his chest. It was a bit awkward at first, but he wanted her light badly enough to continue. And the crazy part of this was not only was he kissing someone, she was kissing him back. She wasn't scared of him, she wasn't abusing him, she wasn't treating him like a monster… she was different. Vanitas wanted to keep her, make her his, hide her away from everyone else, but he didn't want her to hate him too.

"Vanitas," she gasped when his hand trailed down her back. He hadn't even realized it.

He could do it. He could claim her, here in this white space. So why didn't he? What was it that was holding him back? Her light was so _tantalizing_. He craved it even as he touched her. Would it satisfy him, to take her innocence?

_No. I can't._ His darkness churned under his skin. _That would __**really**__ make me a monster. I can't have her think of me as a monster too._ And he didn't even know why he couldn't have this one girl think like the others. She knew more about him than he did of her; for all he knew, the innocence and purity façade was just an act.

With a lot more willpower than he thought he had, Vanitas withdrew from her, stepping away from her body. He didn't know what to say. She'd tasted delicious, but he didn't think it was a good idea to say that.

Apparently she didn't know what to say either, since she stood silently blushing. At last she stepped towards him again, her hand cupping his cheek and her thumb rubbing it gently. "You're not a bad person," she murmured. "You weren't born evil, just know that."

"How can you tell that? I've done a lot of bad things," he protested. Although it was nice to know that _someone_ didn't think he was the bad guy, he didn't think she knew what she was saying.

"You didn't take advantage of me," she answered simply, drawing away. "A bad person would have done it anyways." Her smile came back.

"Hey, what makes you say that?" he demanded, feeling a little indignant. "Taking advantage of you and all that." He hadn't done anything except kiss her, although he'd thought about doing much more than that.

She laughed and then she locked eyes with him; before he knew it, he was on the floor and the girl was straddling his hips, her face very close to his. "Because," she whispered, a tone in her voice he could not name, "I could feel your heart race." Her fingers traced his chest and he could feel it through his suit; it sent sensations through him and he became very nervous as he had no idea where she was going with this. Naminé looked at him and kissed him more passionately than they had while standing—before he knew how to react properly she got off him and stood up.

Slowly he sat up, trying to comprehend what just happened. "I feel like _I'm_ the one that got taken advantage of here," he said, almost laughing. A girl her size had pushed him to the floor and he hadn't fought her off at all.

"The tables are turned by the most unexpected people," she replied. Naminé touched the paper in the air, the little images popping up and playing through a scene. She then waved her hands and he saw all sorts of differently colored chains and ropes protruding from her chest—one of them was connected to his and he jumped. When had that happened? What did it mean? He tugged on it, the black chain rattling as he did so and drawing her attention.

Naminé looked up from a chain that shone like a rainbow and back to him. "You and I are connected," she explained. "And that is what it looks like." She nodded to the black chain leading to him before turning her attention back to the rainbow one in her hands. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped it, and he saw she was shaking.

"Naminé?" he asked, wondering what was wrong.

"Vanitas, I have to go." She rubbed the rainbow chain and all of them disappeared. "Kairi needs me now. It… it was nice to meet you." Tears started slipping down her cheeks. "I wish we could have had more time, but I'm afraid that after this, it will be much harder to find me…"

"No." He jumped to his feet and ran to her, gripping her hands. "No, you can't!" Her light, it would be gone! _She_ would be gone!

"I _have_ to," she insisted. She wrested her hands from his and grasped his face, kissing him again, her light leaching into his being. "If you can, follow the chain. I can't be sure, but… I might be at the end of it. Goodbye. I'll remember you if I live." With that, Naminé turned away and ran, the white space retreating and he became disoriented as the world shifted. Vanitas reached out; his face a mix of sorrow, pain, and confusion. He didn't want her to go, but before he could say anything else Naminé was already gone, disappearing as if she had never been there at all.

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This is for you Rachel. ;w;

I hope you guys liked it! I may write more involving this ship... in fact I probably will...


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